Eric Holder cleared in Fast and Furious report

Eric Holder, the US Attorney General, was today cleared of wrongdoing in
relation to the Fast and Furious scandal, the bungled gun running
investigation that saw American law enforcement agents allow weapons to fall
into the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

A report by the Department of Justice's (DoJ) internal watchdog found that Mr Holder was only informed of the investigation long after it had spun out of control but criticised 14 senior officials for their roles in the scandal.

Two senior DoJ officials were forced out after being named in the report and several others are likely to face internal disciplinary charges.

The 471-page report criticised Mr Holder's department as well as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) for its role in the investigation, which saw up to 2000 firearms knowingly smuggled to Mexicoin an effort to track down major drug lords.

Operation Fast and Furious began in 2009 but within months federal agents had begun to lose track of the guns they were supposed to be monitoring and soon the weapons began to turn up next to bodies on both sides of the US-Mexican border.

The investigation transformed into a political scandal after two ATF-tracked guns were found at the scene of a December 2010 shootout that left US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry dead.

While it remains unclear whether Mr Terry was killed by a weapon that authorities had allowed to be smuggled, the killing highlighted how little control investigators had over how the guns were being used.

A committee from the Republican-controlled House of Representatives launched an investigation into the scandal and later voted to hold Mr Holder in contempt because of his alleged refusal to hand over documents.

Mr Holder claimed vindication on Wednesday even though his department was severely criticised for its role. "It is unfortunate that some were so quick to make baseless accusations before they possessed the facts about these operations - accusations that turned out to be without foundation and that have caused a great deal of unnecessary harm and confusion," he said.

There were also sighs of relief in the White House where aides to President Barack Obama feared that a more damning report could have forced the resignation of a senior member of the cabinet just weeks before November's election.

The DoJ's inspector general, who is independent of the politically-appointed Mr Holder, concluded that there had been a "series of misguided strategies, tactics, errors in judgment, and management failures" at both the ATF and the DoJ.

Kenneth Melson, the former Director of the ATF, announced his retirement upon the report's publication while Jason Weinstein, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, resigned.

However, Mr Holder also refused to sack Mr Weinstein's boss, Lanny Breuer, who was also named in the report and who has been the target of repeated criticism by Congress.